Preparing for Spring

Porcelain brooches

Winter is the best time for developing new work, I find,  when there is a lull in sales and I need something fresh to put out into the world for when spring eventually arrives.

I wanted to make some new small pieces that I can post economically as sending ceramics can be very expensive, so I developed some drawings of animals that I can print onto clay and add then colour to. They have ended up as a collection of mostly domestic creatures, probably because I spend so much time working from home at this time of year I have unconsciously reflected my surroundings, although I don't actually have a cat...or an alpaca for that matter!

I have been combining the prints with some scraffitto, sponge printing and brushwork on other forms.

I'm also making a lot of tea pots which are selling well and have added this design to tie in with the humming bird design.

GPS or Tea leaves?

New work for this month includes these 'pathway' mugs, I was thinking about how many decisions and choices we make every day, most we don't even notice, some make grocery shopping a nightmare but just as many are about the type of people we are, or think we are and where we want to go in life. I started to imagine having a morning cupppa that helped make some of those decisions for the day, perhaps I should make some for those smaller choices as well...cereal or toast...car or train...heels or flats...

I also finished those vases, these

2 worked well

...this one looks good from the outside, however inside is a different story, it's covered in what I can best describe as 'boils'! I must have not let the slip settle enough before I poured it, another hard lesson learned!

I've been making brooches for a long time but have recently though that I would develop some more jewelery designs, partly because it gives me access to different markets, I can sell more through places like Etsy as the postage costs are not as high as for pots, and of course there is always space in the kiln for small pieces so firing costs are minimal. These dragonfly brooches are the first step down that road and I have lots of ideas for pendants as well, so watch this space!